It was born in the year 1981 in its current version (the first version was created in 1959). It weighs 435gr, is quite short, and includes only 5 elements in 4 groups.
It accepts a 52 mm filter, and the aperture has 7 straight leaves. And, when observing its structure, you would not take it seriously.
I have had it for quite a while, and I bought it second-hand (or fifth – who knows?) for a little over $200. It has accumulated some dust over the years – but this does not interfere with photographing, as we shall see later on.

The network praises and commends it, and it was just waiting for the opportunity to show me what it can do – is it true or is it only a story?
Since it is totally manual, it did not enable light measurements with D70 or with D100, and manual exposure – even with the capabilities of the histogram – is quite a bother. When the DX and D200 arrived, it entered the test, and went to work.

With it, the eyepiece is very bright – a 2.5 aperture allows plenty of light to enter the camera and it is very easy to focus manually (especially for those who have done it for most of their photographic life).
After a short series of pictures taken in the evening, I downloaded them onto the screen, and looked at them for a long time, not believing my eyes. I waited for a sunny day so I could give it an in-depth test, and then I found a real jewel.

This is not a macro lens – even though the numbers seem similar, and its minimal focusing length is about one meter.
Not close but enough for any objective. In the quality and MTF tests it appears as one of Nikon’s excelling lenses, but let’s find out if it’s true. All the following pictures were taken with the D2X, and went through auto-contrast and slight sharpening to compensate for the size reduction performed so it could fit the Internet.

The cat’s hair test was performed with aperture 5.6, and here it shows its greatness in full, one hair at a time:

Model: NIKON D2X Exposure Time: 1/160sec F Number: 5.6 Max Aperture Value: 0 Focal Length: 105mm Exposure Program: Aperture priority Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 125 Metering Mode: Pattern White Balance: Auto white balance Flash: Flash did not fire Focal Length In 35mm Film: 157 Date Taken: 2005:05:13 08:54:03 Color Space: sRGB

The colors it produces (together with the camera of course) are excellent and full of life:

Model: NIKON D2X Exposure Time: 1/200sec F Number: 4 Max Aperture Value: 0 Focal Length: 105mm Exposure Program: Aperture priority Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 125 Metering Mode: Spot White Balance: Auto white balance Flash: Flash did not fire Focal Length In 35mm Film: 157 Date Taken: 2005:05:28 10:03:47 Color Space: sRGB

Its microcontrast is superb – evidence of the strict structure and coatings. One can see all the fine tones of the rose colors:

Model: NIKON D2X Exposure Time: 1/640sec F Number: 2.5 Max Aperture Value: 0 Focal Length: 105mm Exposure Program: Aperture priority Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 125 Metering Mode: Pattern White Balance: Auto white balance Flash: Flash did not fire Focal Length In 35mm Film: 157 Date Taken: 2005:05:13 08:55:34 Color Space: sRGB

The quality of its coatings is expressed even when shooting against a bright light, with no flare or loss of contrast:

Model: NIKON D2X Exposure Time: 1/400sec F Number: 2.5 Max Aperture Value: 0 Focal Length: 105mm Exposure Program: Aperture priority Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 125 Metering Mode: Spot White Balance: Auto white balance Flash: Flash did not fire Focal Length In 35mm Film: 157 Date Taken: 2005:05:28 10:03:00 Color Space: sRGB

I took a step further – I shot while measuring a spot from the frame center, while the background had unusual lighting, it withstood this very well – and the colors at the frame center are accurate and perfect although the background is totally burnt:

Model: NIKON D2X Exposure Time: 1/25sec F Number: 2.5 Max Aperture Value: 0 Focal Length: 105mm Exposure Program: Aperture priority Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 125 Metering Mode: Spot White Balance: Auto white balance Flash: Flash did not fire Focal Length In 35mm Film: 157 Date Taken: 2005:05:28 10:02:22 Color Space: sRGB

Its Bokeh is nice, the next photo shows the Bokeh with a wide-open aperture – evidence of its optical structure, showing further proof of its ability to separate details in a frame of similar shades (microcontrast):

Model: NIKON D2X Exposure Time: 1/500sec F Number: 2.5 Max Aperture Value: 0 Focal Length: 105mm Exposure Program: Aperture priority Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 125 Metering Mode: Pattern White Balance: Auto white balance Flash: Flash did not fire Focal Length In 35mm Film: 157 Date Taken: 2005:05:13 08:53:43 Color Space: sRGB

It had no problem passing the CA test (CA shows when shooting small dark elements over a light background, and the objects’ edges are painted green, purple or any other shade). The following picture is CA free:

Model: NIKON D2X Exposure Time: 1/2000sec F Number: 4 Max Aperture Value: 0 Focal Length: 105mm Exposure Program: Aperture priority Exposure Bias Value: 0 ISO Speed Ratings: 125 Metering Mode: Center Weighted Average White Balance: Auto white balance Flash: Flash did not fire Focal Length In 35mm Film: 157 Date Taken: 2005:05:28 10:04:23 Color Space: sRGB

The bottom line - a small treasure.

What is it good for? It is good for portrait photography, although the focal length is a bit too long – but it still works fine. It can serve as a short tele-lens for other type of   shots.

Its advantage is in its size, weight and quality. It gets on well with teleconverters – just like any quality prime lens, and with a x2 teleconverter, one gets a 210mm lens, aperture 5. It is best to close the aperture to 5.6, and since focusing is manual, it does not have any AF problems.
Its weight, together with a teleconverter, seem to be enough so you can stabilize it in the hand.

It is worth trying, especially when considering its current price.

It is still produced – and sold in large stores around the world. It is not easy to find it due to the great demand and limited production, but there is no problem finding a second or third hand lens of this type.

Some people have this lens and simply don’t know what to do with it and are considering getting rid of it – so just help them make the decision – it’s worth it!